Breaking Dystopia - A Pokemon Adventure
by Fieryovaltine
Summary: A dark, corrupt and mean-spirited version of The Pokemon World has been tainted with greed. Humans and Pokemon alike live as miserable chattel to the rich, and a cartel of all-powerful corporations, as a vestigial government rots away. One group of unlikely heroes find a mysterious opportunity to risk everything for a chance to make a difference. To take a stand.


The surveillance Combees circled ahead, the three sets of eyes on each of them darting from side to side in the huge typing pool, watching out for _'slacking,' 'gossiping,_ ' or some other form of punishable minor vice.

The buzzing of all those sets of wings would have been nauseating if it weren't for the equally deafening thudding and clicking of the countless typewriters, each manned by a tired, demoralised human.

The capitalists had once boasted that Pokemon _'would be made to be our tools,_ ' but they had not, as far as Florimel could remember, specified who they meant by _'our.'_

Had they wished to avoid confusion, they could have put their point clearer, Florimel thought, as she clacked away, copying up line after line of text, fingers smashing the tough keys down so that every afternoon they stung and before too long she knew, they would be arthritic claws. They could have said: _'Pokemon will be our tools, just like **you** are.'_

But, she thought sadly, the countryside had been more or less purged of ' _wild_ ' Pokemon, ' _wild_ ,' that had been the word they'd used, although maybe ' _free_ ' Pokemon would be more accurate. Each being confined to a Pokeball, and yet, the human's work-load had got tougher… She wasn't sat laid up as Machoke-butlers brought her drinks, she knew some people were, somewhere up there, but they were far removed from the reality of her, and her typing pool.

Florimel picked up a small green paddle and placed it into a stand on her desk, after a few minutes a floor-walker noticed it, and nodded to her, but tapped her watch reproachfully. With this permission, Florimel got up to go to the toilet, grabbing one of the day's tokens that would let her through the bathroom door.

 _'Theft (noun): Stealing from the rich._

 _Capitalism (noun): Stealing from the poor.'_

It was an odd piece of graffiti, but it made her laugh, and was hard to argue with, except from an alphabetical point of view.

The rest of the toilet walls were covered with more familiar slogans such as: _'Why are Pokemon superior to humans? Pokemon don't imprison us in balls!'_ and _'Death to the Silph company!'_ Florimel gazed around dreamily looking to see which were new as she sat. She didn't need the full five minutes her token allowed her, but since these trips were the only breaks she'd get in her 10 hour day, she wasn't going to leave until the timer was down to the last few seconds.

' _The scouring of talents, and readying of land'_ the grandiose title for sending soldiers out into the wild to capture any _'dangerously wild'_ Pokemon in balls, which were then studied, and if they were found to be useful, like the Combees had, were bred vociferously and pressed into servitude almost from birth, those that were considered too dangerous, or without a great use, were kept in small sample-sized populations in zoos and labs.

There were still Pokemon in the sea, but on land, even though the policy had only started around forty years ago, there were few if any wild Pokemon, and those that still existed were small, flighty birds and bugs. They had been taught about it in school. It was all about the idea that humans were better, because they could build and make art and stuff, and were developing and getting more advanced all the time. So they needed to take their position at the top, and _'inherit the earth,'_ whereas Pokemon, who archaeologists believed had lived basically the same lives over and over for thousands of generations, could all take their place in society, wherever they fitted, but all far below humans.

So the world was cleared of each _'natural habitat'_ in very short order. Repel sprayed from huge trucks to concentrate and trap Pokemon, and then Pokeballs used to catch them all. The land could then be made to best fit humans, mainly as Pokemon-tended farms, which would be needed to fit the rapid expansion in human population.

She thought it was all bunkum. She thought that humans were only told they were above Pokemon because the capitalists hadn't worked out how to capture **them** in balls, so needed to throw them a bone lest they rebel. Or maybe… Maybe if you tell people they are superior to Pokemon, then if they don't work harder than Pokemon you can fine them for laziness. But since she was barely 19, she hadn't known a world before it. She made her way back to her desk, took the paddle down and started typing away. The next thing she knew, she was being prodded awake.

 _"But I've never done it before!"_ Florimel wailed, slightly ashamed of how her fear had made her voice squeaky.

 _"That's not our problem."_ The woman said. _"There are plenty of people who want to work for Silph. It wouldn't be fair on them, or our shareholders or customers, if we kept a costly slacker on our books when we could be employing a genuine striver."_

 _"But I just fell asleep… We have to work so long."_

 _"That is no longer a problem from which you suffer."_

 _"So do I get the money from my last two weeks? Since my last paycheque?"_

 _"No. You're paid a month in advance, you owe us two weeks."_

 _"I didn't get paid until I'd been here a month!?"_

 _"That's because your first paycheque goes to paying for your uniform."_

 _"This thing? It's like a sack!"_

 _"The bill will be in the post. You don't have to pay us straight away."_

 _"How kind."_

 _"No way."_ Said Page flatly.

 _"Way."_ Retorted Florimel.

 _"For your first… Well I don't want to say 'offense,' because we're not talking about a law you've broken… Except Silph are a law unto themselves. Believe me, I'd know."_

 _"I fell asleep, and now I'm unemployed, in debt and about to be homeless."_

 _"You don't have any savings?"_

 _"Do you?"_

Page shook he head solemnly and drained he beer. Florimel had asked him to meet her for a drink. He had agreed, but insisted that it be at a bar in the next town over, Viridian, as Page still worked for Silph, and while drinking was perfectly legal, drinking on a work night could see you sacked.

 _"There is a wild conspiracy theory, believed by an alarmingly large number of otherwise sound-minded people."_ Page began in a mock-sagely voice. _"That I hesitate to speak aloud, lest the mania be allowed to spread any further, that not all is fair in this world."_ He smiled grimly.

Florimel wandered aimlessly home, it wouldn't be **home** for long, and frankly it was a dump. She was out of ideas and very nearly out of time. The smashed glass from a shattered window littered the alleyway, so for that reason her head was down, as she carefully stepped through it. It is perhaps for this reason alone, that in the low-light of the crummy, cheap street-lamps she noticed the card, that would change her life forever.

She hunched down to pick up the small plastic rectangle. It was a _'Pokemon Licence,'_ apparently the category was _'H,'_ which she'd never heard of, but strangest of all, it had her name on it.

 _'Florimel Gardner,'_ as clear as day, and there weren't many of those in the world. This was a Pokemon License, in her name. A licence to own and train Pokemon.

Her heart pounded in her chest, she picked it up, slipped it into her pocket and ran. She wasn't sure what she was running from. She wasn't sure of anything anymore. Someone out there wanted her to own a Pokemon it seemed. She hammered on the door of the building Page had a room in, she couldn't think of anyone else to turn to, and she didn't want to be alone, in fact, she wanted answers.

 _"Oh, it's you."_ Answered Page wearily when he was summoned to the door by one of his neighbours. He seemed to be wearing a pair of pink Pyjamas with Lopunnys printed across them, which distracted Florimel, and she shook her head and decided to come back to it later, once more pressing issues had been handled.

 _"Charming. Not: Oh, nice to see you again Flossy!"_ She retorted.

 _"I need my sleep darling, some of us still have jobs."_

 _"Can I come in?"_

 _"The landlords don't really like us to have guests at night… Ah screw it. You look like hell, you're bringing down the property prices just standing here."_

They went in to Page's ' _Room_ ,' fully half of which was consumed by the single-bed. Under the bed were a few boxes filled with everything Page owned. " _Nice_." Flossy said, sarcastically as they sat on the bed. _"Better than your last place."_

 _"Better than a lot of places, better than where you'll be living in a week or so."_

 _"Check out what I found in the street Page."_ Flossy said, suddenly entirely serious, and showing her friend the inexplicable card.

Page's jaw dropped when he saw the name written on the plastic. _"Is this a forgery? How on earth did you get this?"_

 _"I just found it in the street. I've no idea what, where, who or how… Maybe someone up there loves me, but if so, they've waited a while to show it… Is it a forgery, do you think? I've never seen one of these up close before."_

 _"If it's a forgery, it's a damn good one. What's category 'H'?"_

"I was going to ask you that."

 _"Hmmm… I've never heard of it before, but it's not one of the common ones, I can tell you that for free. Like 'W' which is work-general, 'G' which is government, 'D' for defence, 'S' for Silph and so on."_

 _"Do you think I can sell it?"_

 _"No. They're chipped so even if you could change the name they'd know… Plus if you're caught with someone else's you'll be charged with more than just homelessness, it's a pretty serious offense."_

 _"Then it's useless… I couldn't possibly afford a Pokeball, there aren't any Pokemon to catch, and usually you get one of these from your job, you can't get a job from having one. Plus I don't even know what I'm licensed to **do**."_

 _"H, H, H… I think I know someone who could tell us what that means. I'll meet you outside, I need to get changed."_

 _"Lopunny?"_ she asked with a smirk on her face.

 _"They're cute… Well to look at anyway, I've heard they can punch a human's head clean **off**."_

Florimel stamped her feet on the floor to keep warm in the cold night as she waited for Page, who strolled out barely a minute after her. He passed her a spare coat which fit surprisingly well and clicked on a torch to light their way. _"Look, this guy's pretty crazy, but he works for The General Archive, he'll know about these categories."_

 _"And he'll be up?"_

 _"He's always up… That's a guarantee."_

Page knocked on the door of a small end-of-terrace house in a relatively upmarket part of town. It was unlocked and swung open at his touch. He took as step inside, leading Florimel with him. Finding the light switch eventually, he clicked it on to reveal the figure of a young man, laying on the floor, with an empty whisky bottle by him.

" _Florimel_ " said Page. " _I present to you: A historian._ "

A light kick in the shoulder from Page woke the historian up, he opened both eyes, which focused slowly on Page. _"Ah, Page you ugly sod. The very person, I was just thinking about you. I was just going to tell you that if you ever woke me up I would rip your eyes out with a spoon."_

 _"Shame you never got round to-"_ Page began, but the historian cut him off when he saw Florimel.

 _"-And you brought an equally ugly friend. Why is everyone and everything in this world so ugly? Get me a drink or leave."_ With this he closed his eyes.

Page went into another room for a moment, and came back with a bottle of wine. He stood over the historian and dangled the bottle in front of him. When the historian reached up to grab it, Page pulled it away. Then took the cap off and started drinking.

 _"Get off my wine Page, I've beaten people senseless for less."_ He said, struggling to his feet.

 _"Dusty, this is Florimel, she needs your services."_

 _"Perhaps if she put a bag over her head-"_ Dusty began.

 _"-Your services as a **historian**."_ Page replied. _"We have a problem only a genius of your calibre could solve."_

He gave this some thought, appealing to his ego seemed to be a winning strategy. _"Okay, hurry up then. I'm missing prime drinking time here."_

Florimel cleared her throat: _"I've found this Pokemon Trainer's Licence, we need to know if it's legit, how on earth it was issued to me, and what category 'H' is."_ She held the card out and Dusty snatched it.

 _"Hmm… It's legit all right."_

 _"You're sure?"_ Florimel replied.

 _"I'm never wrong Ms 'Flo-ri-mel Gardner,' H-category… As I live and struggle-to-breathe. This is a rare one. It stands for 'Historical,' basically there used to be… Well, back before you needed licenses, there used to be this thing called 'The Pokemon Gym challenge,' where people would travel round the world, catching Pokemon and challenging each gym leader to a battle. If you won the battle you got a 'gym badge,' and if you got all 16 you could challenge the Elite 4 and then the champion, if you beat all of those, you'd become a new Gym leader, pushing out the weakest existing one- And back then, when the big companies like Silph were less powerful, that meant you pretty much ran a city. But if you lost a single battle, you lost your right to train Pokemon at all, forever. But then, when the licenses came in and virtually no one could train, that forfeit was pretty meaningless, so they upped it to death. Then they banned it all together, no normal license allows for it… This one does though. This may be the only 'Historic' license ever printed… But it's 100% genuine, completely unforgeable."_ He finished the speech by tossing the card back to Florimel, then he turned to Page and said: _"Now can I have my damned wine?!"_

 _"I'm going to do it."_ Whispered Florimel, as Page and Dusty scrabbled over the bottle.

 _"What?"_ exclaimed Page, releasing his grip on the wine. _"Even if you could get a Pokemon, gym leaders are the best trainers in the world!"_

 _"What have I got to lose? And if I win, I'll be famous, so I can shine a spotlight on the inequity in this world. I'll be on the front of every paper, I'll be on the radio… People would listen to me. I'd be the pawn who got to the other end of the board, who railed against kings who sacrifice us pointlessly!"_

 _"I like this one Page, she's madder than you. Madder than me even."_ Said Dusty as he swigged away. _"Come on, we'll go to the archives, the computer there will be able to see who's issued the card."_

Without complaint they left for Dusty's workplace. As they walked, Florimel asked the historian why he drank so much.

 _"I'm brilliant. I'm incredible. I'm too smart… Picture the perfect historian and you will see me. And you know what they have me do? I work in town at the archive, where we are assembling the 'Devon Corporation Sponsored History Of The World.' It will be the longest book in the world, the official historical record, and entirely fictitious. A book of lies to pacify the populace, to have them believe change is impossible because it's all been tried before and it's all failed. My role is to erase from the final copy any indication that government can be a force for good or that corporate greed has any negative impact. You know there used to be free healthcare for all pokemon? All paid for by taxes, and cheap at twice the price."_

 _"Yeah."_ Replied Florimel. _"The Pokemon Centres, we don't need them anymore."_

 _"Indeed not, but did you know that there was free healthcare for all humans too? The CHS they called it. The Citizens Health Service, we all paid in a fair amount of what we could, and took out what we needed, so none of us needed to worry about falling ill, even the poor."_

 _"But doesn't that mean that a lot of people would get out way more than they put in? I couldn't afford health care if I paid in **all** of my wage… Well, the wage I was earning until a couple of days ago…"_

 _"Sure. But you want healthcare right?"_

 _"Obviously."_

 _"And you work as hard as you can, at the best job you can get, right?"_

 _"Yeah…"_

 _"And you **still** can't afford it… Do you know what that means?"_

 _"What?"_ Florimel asked, genuinely intrigued. She hadn't heard talk like this in her entire life.

 _"You aren't getting paid enough… And who's fault is that? Not yours, you already told me you work as hard as you can for as long as you can. It's your boss's fault. They pay you the minimum you're willing to work for, and the people you're competing for the job are willing to work for, and since the alternative is debtor's prison, you'll work for so little you can barely keep alive **now**. Much less prepare for the future."_

 _"But if healthcare is free for everyone they don't have the **option** to pay you so little you can't afford it…"_ Finished Page, who evidently had heard this before.

 _"So I, the greatest historian you'll ever meet, must spend his days deleting the true history, and implanting a fake version, in which free healthcare is somehow evil and malevolent."_ Sighed Dusty. _"And don't get me started on Pokemon… They tell you that Pokemon being trained by everyone was a disaster because it lead to gangs like Team Rocket and terrorist attacks like The Gary Oak Incident etcetera, but these are a couple of rare examples, that we have to conflate and over-emphasize, whilst deleting all the thousands and thousands of responsible trainers from the record-book."_

Their shoes echoed around the grand hall of the national archives, an impressive entranceway of marble and hanging tapestry. _"Are you sure we're allowed in here this late?"_ Florimel asked in a whisper.

 _"No. I'm sure you're **not** allowed in here at all, and that it seems like a lot better an idea to try and sneak you in now when it's empty and I'm drunk, than it will tomorrow when it's full and I'm sober."_ Replied Dusty with a scowl. _"Come on, Julian's this way."_

Julian, it transpires, was the huge computer the national archives used. It took up the entire western wing of the building, and hummed and whirred noisily even before Dusty sat down at the terminal.

 _"Okay…"_ He said. _"Give me the card."_

Florimel passed it over and he scanned it against a sensor and then typed in a long code from the back of it. Taking care in the low light to not make any mistakes. _"And now, we play the waiting game."_

The whirring increased in volume as they waited. _"How long will it take"_ Asked Page?

" _Only about 20 minutes. Then it'll feed out a name of the person who printed it, who authorized it, when and why."_

 _"20 minutes? Damn, what are we going to do for all that time?"_ Page replied with a huff.

 _"I don't know about you, I shall be drinking my wine."_ Dusty said, taking a swig.

They sat in silence from that point on. Dusty draining his bottle, Page sat on the floor with his back to the far wall, and Florimel pacing the room. After what seemed like an age a rotund, white-bearded old man walked into the room. _"Ah Dusty! What a surprise to see you here out of hours. You're barely here when you're supposed to be… And you brought friends… Now that is not acceptable, it really isn't._ "

 _"Mr Elm. I'm so so-"_ Dusty said, leaping out of the chair so fast it fell over behind him.

 _"What is this here?"_ The old, bearded man said, as he covered the distance between them with surprising speed and picked up the baffling trainer's-license.

 _"A category H… And genuine."_ He said, turning it over in his hands slowly. _"How on earth did you get this."_

 _"That's what we're here to find out. Sir. I'm sure you can understand how the alarming nature of this card, which my friend here found printed in her own name, caused me to break protocol. By bringing her and her associate in under my **vigilant** guard."_ He pointed towards Florimel as he said this, and as Mr Elm looked that way, Page grabbed the empty wine bottle, which Dusty was holding behind his back, and slipped it into his bag.

 _"Haha, I can certainly understand that young one… and frankly, if I was going to fire you for an indiscretion, I would have done so long ago. But I can't afford to lose your talents, plus, your ridiculous excuses amuse me. Ah, let's see what Uncle Julian has to say shall we."_ As he said this, the huge computer's frantic noises reached a peak, and a small slip of paper shot unceremoniously from a small slot. " _Perhaps Ms Gardner should be the first to see."_

Florimel leaned over and tore the paper out. _"Redacted. That's all it says. Issuer: Redacted, Authorization from: Redacted. Justification category: Redacted, Date and Time: … What..? That's almost 4 months ago…"_

 _"Truly a mystery"_ said Mr Elm, with an excited smile. _"Do you three plan on taking the gym challenge? Surely such a bizarre occurrence could not be ignored!"_

 _"The three of us?"_ Asked Page. _"Only Flossy here has the card."_

 _"Yes, but as young Dusty here would know, if he was a better historian, is that the H category allows for up to two companions, to travel with you, and to even keep Pokemon of their own… Of course in the event of failure the, ahem, forfeit does not apply to them."_

 _"I want to."_ Whispered Florimel. _"But how would we even get our hands on a Pokemon?"_

Mr Elm thought for a moment before replying: _"Well… I'm an old man, and even if I lived another 20 years I doubt I'd ever find a more auspicious moment… You can have mine."_

 _"Wait? You have Pokemon?"_ Asked Dusty with a raised eyebrow.

 _"Yes, young brat. I used to be quite an important Pokemon researcher I'll have you know, and by the time the licensing came into full effect I was already an important enough person here to get a R-Category license, far more restricted than this one of course."_ Elm said, passing the license to Flossy. _"But enough to keep a few little Pokemon around as long as I didn't use them for anything worrying… To be honest I rather think they've forgotten I have a license at all."_

 _"Great!"_ Announced Page excitedly. _"It's decided, we leave our awful lives in our awful town behind, and try our hardest to get good at this Pokemon training thing so that Flossy doesn't get killed!"_

 _"Hey!"_ Exclaimed Dusty. _"You two may be on your uppers, but I'm on the up and up. I've got a great job and my own house and-"_

 _"-I'll tell you what."_ Interjected Mr Elm. _"If you leave now, if I'm still alive when you get back, you can walk straight back into your job. If you don't leave. I'll fire you for bringing these two in to a restricted area, trespassing after hours, drinking on work premises and all the thousands of other infractions you've done in your time here."_

 _"Well, you can't say fairer than that."_ Replied Dusty with surprising calm. _"Let's go see these Pokemon."_

It turned out Mr Elm lived in a little cottage a short walk from the archive, and the Pokemon were kept in a little annex out back. As they walked to his house, Page asked Elm about which Pokemon he kept and any advice he had on training them, while Florimel whispered to Dusty _"Could Mr Elm be the one who printed the card? It seems like a bit of a coincidence that we have a card, and he has Pokemon to spare…"_

 _"No chance. His clearance isn't anywhere high enough to redact his name on an official request."_

 _"Who's is?"_

 _"Do you believe in God?"_

 _"No."_

 _"Well his boss would… Maybe."_

The Pokemon were all sleeping in an orangery. But they leaped awake when Mr Elm flicked the lights on. They came running, flapping and crawling towards him, presumably expecting food. They were a Squirtle, the water pokemon, a little Sewaddle, the Bug-Grass Pokemon, and Spearow, the tiny bird Pokemon.

 _"Take your pick."_ Said Elm, to a taken aback Florimel. The Sewaddle was cuddling up against Page's leg, and he knelt down to pick it up and it made happy squeaking noises in his arms. While the Spearow landed on Dusty's satchel, poking it's beak inside to try to get at the bag of crisps he had in there. _"Hey, off! Off you! Okay We'll share!"_ Said Dusty with cheerful mock-annoyance. As Page just squee'd as he held a Pokemon for the first time in his life, something he'd always wanted to do. The Squirtle gave her an appraising look, and then, seeing that no food was forthcoming, picked up some weights and started lifting.

 _"I pick the-"_ she said, but stopped as he slipped a Pokeball with a blue ' _raindrop_ ' hand-painted on it.

 _"I know."_

They spent the rest of the night getting to know their new Pokemon, and reading Mr Elms handwritten books on their behavior, and their capabilities, as the old man brought them snacks and cups of tea. Finally, as the new day dawned, they fell asleep, each with their new Pokemon in their arms.

Page sprang into the centre of the Gym leader's training and battling area, sporting the Black heeled boots, thigh high black and white socks, dark grey skirt and white t-shirt that had become his or rather ' _zer_ ' signature garb over the previous two weeks. ' _Flick_ ,' Page's Sewaddle hung in its papoose grinning with excitement.

Page lifted the megaphone to zer lips and belted out to the small crowd: _"Ladies, gentlemen and others. I, the great herald Page Voss and my genius associate the great historian Dusty Noon are proud to present, from right here in Pallet town, 'The Human Battling Machine,' the undefeated, the undefeatable, the incredible, the inedible, the non-biodegradable, the next Pokemon champion of the wooooorld! Florimel Gardner."_

There were a few whoops and claps from the audience, who were mostly townsfolk and journalists who had gathered for the novelty of the thing. Although there were a few Police, and Devon and Silph Security Officers who had checked the Trainer's License dozens of times over, sure that there was something dodgy about it, but unable to find anything wrong.

 _"Why are you drinking so much?"_ Florimel whispered to Dusty, as they waited for the last few preparations to be made.

 _"Hey, if I'm going to watch them kill you, I'm not doing it sober."_ He said, between glugs of wine.

 _"I thought you said Jackson would be out of practice, and wouldn't try too hard?"_ Florimel said, angry at him.

 _"No. That's what I said that Elm had said. I said you're the craziest person who's ever lived, and will soon be the craziest person to ever die."_

Alf Jackson, the aged Pallet Town gym leader met Florimel and Dusty at their side of the battling area. _"What a novelty."_ He said, as he shook their hands. _"I can't remember the last time someone battled for a gym badge… There's still time to back down, I'll tell the people you were hysterical and feverish, if you'd like… To avoid embarrassment."_

 _"That won't be necessary."_ Florimel told the old man.

 _"Good luck then… You brave fool."_ With this he walked away, chuckling to himself as he tottered off on his cane.

 _"Do you want me to make Bigwingboy take a dump on him?"_ Dusty asked quietly. The Spearow in question was circling around above.

 _"Maybe later."_ Florimel replied.

Page, having finished zer heraldry was walking towards them, when ze passed Jackson, Page held out a hand for the old man to shake, but he took one look at the impromptu-herald's bronze and silver nail polish and shook his head.

 _"How rude."_ Stated Florimel blankly as Page reached them.

 _"Ha, you didn't hear what he said **, that** was rude…"_ The Herald replied. _"Are you ready?"_

 _"About as ready as I'll ever be… Two weeks of training… Why did I set myself that target?"_ Florimel asked the world in general.

 _"Because that's how long Elm said he'd keep feeding you."_ Replied Dusty.

Dusty and Page each hugged Florimel and they took a few steps back from the trainer's podium, to the sidelines. _"Oh, by the way, one of the Silph guys told me I was fired for this."_ Page said to Dusty, glumly.

 _"They can do that?"_

 _"They can do whatever they want. I didn't tell Flossy because I didn't want to pile any extra pressure on her… Heck, now I say that out loud it sounds pretty dumb bearing in mind her life is on the line."_

The referee, who was a local volunteer shouted down her megaphone. _"By agreement between the challenger and the gym leader, the following is an official Gym Challenge, and will be a one on one contest. Only one Pokemon will be used by each trainer, and those have already been shown to me, so no countering is possible. Can both trainers now release those Pokemon!"_

Jackson pulled one of his Pokeballs from his belt and clicked the button, Florimel picked her only ball out of her pocket and did the same. Shots of red light darted out of each ball and Jackson's Machamp materialised in front of him, Florimel's Squirtle ' _Hydro_ ' appeared before her, then glanced back and they shared a nod.

 _"Ready!"_ Bellowed the referee… _"Fight!"_

 _"Machamp!"_ Screamed Jackson through the megaphone mounted in the trainer's podium. _"Pick that Squirtle up and smash it to pieces. Don't let it move and don't worry if it hides in its shell. Take it now and kill it!"_

 _"Bubblebeam, Hydro!"_ Shouted Florimel in response, and as the huge, hulking 4-armed fighting type bounded forwards towards the little Squirtle it was hit by a jet of bubbles which exploded all over it, hitting it with a series of strong concussive forces which seemed to cause pain, but failed to slow its stride.

 _"Eat it up Machamp!"_ Yelled Jackson

Dusty and Page's hearts pounded in their chests as the Machamp covered the distance between itself and the squirtle frighteningly fast. They knew that if it managed to get one of its four huge hands onto the little squirt it would all be over, for both Hydro and Florimel. But Flossy still looked calm and collected, as if she was unaware of the danger she was in, or as if she knew something they didn't.

 _"Number 33, left, now!"_ Said Florimel, voice calm and level. With this coded instruction Hydro shot a jet of water along the ground to the right of the Machamp, who paid it no attention, and just as the four-armed beast closed in on Hydro, he used frosty-breath and froze the wet ground into an ice slick, and then threw itself forwards onto the ice, sliding along the slick on his shell, with incredible speed, and firing more concussive-bubbles at the Machamp's side as he did so. When he reached the end of the slick Hydro leaped to his feet, and bowed to the audience who cheered and whooped with amazement. The squirtle was now as far from the confused and frustrated Machamp as it had been when the fighting-type had begun it's charge, but now the beast had taken damage, not much, but it all added up.

Time and time again, the Machamp tried to close the distance, getting pelted with bubblebeams as it did so, and time and time again, Hydro slid away on a jet of ice before it could reach him. Eventually the ice criss-crossed the battlefield and this was as much of a danger to Jackson's Pokemon as the bubblebeams were, in its rage-filled haste to reach Hydro it was slipping on the ice and smashing it's heavy bulk into the rocky earth.

A more compassionate trainer would have called off the battle much earlier, and handed Florimel the win. But Jackson kept shouting out orders to the outmaneuvered Machamp. Who got slower and slower, more and more battered and pained as the match continued, he even commanded it to throw rocks at the Squirtle, but those were easily dodged. Finally, the last bout of bubbles knocked Machamp out, and as he fainted he crumpled to the ground, one massive joint after another, until he laid flat-out. At long last, the referee shouted out those sweet words:

 _"Jackson's Machamp is unable to continue. Florimel and her Squirtle are the winners!"_ There was a small cheer from the gathered crowd, and Florimel jumped up in the air, punching the sky in triumph. Hydro ran over to her and they embraced.

 _"-And as a result of this, Jackson must sacrifice a copy of the Pallet town gym badge, and a cash prize of eighteen-hundred Pokeyen to Florimel, and a prize of 450 Pokeyen to each of her companions!"_

Page and Dusty ran out to the podium and shared a massive three-way hug with Flossy. Flick leaped from its papoose into Hydro's arms and Bigwingboy landed gently on Florimel's head. _"A picture of the triumphant team for The Mercury?"_ asked a young journalist, holding a huge professional-quality camera. " _Sure_ " said Florimel and with a bright flash the misfit bunch's six grinning mouths were captured for the front page. This was the first gym badge to be won in over 40 years.

 _"… Me and Flick can gather leaves together, ze really doesn't eat much, plus I'm sure Bigwingboy can fly around for fruit, right? So we're only really paying for one Pokemon's food."_ Page said, pen and paper in hand.

 _"Yeah, but after the tents and outside clothes and stuff there's really not much money left for even **our** food."_ Dusty responded. _"It's a shame we had to spend so much on the Pokeballs, but the fact is we did. The next gym leader won't be willing to make their match a one vs one, not after what happened to Jackson, so Flossy will need to have captured and trained up at least two new Pokemon before we even get to Viridian City, otherwise they'll have three and we'll only have one, and we'll be at a huge disadvantage… Correction, another huge disadvantage… How are we even going to find any?"_

 _"We'll, we have aerial recon, and Hydro can search the waterways. So if there's any out there, we'll find them."_ Page replied.

 _"We better find something, we got lucky against Jackson. If that Machamp had gotten one hand on Hydro, it would have been all over, and most Pokemon don't even need to get close to you to destroy you."_ Dusty retorted.

It had been an eventful couple of days since the badge had been won. Gangs of journalists, officials, private security and the like had been hassling them, making it difficult to get anything done. But they had to act fast. Florimel was training and practicing with Hydro day and night. According to Elm's books, they seemed sure he would Evolve into a Wartortle soon, that might be enough to give them a victory in the next gym. They knew the next gym leader wouldn't hold back, and they suspected, due to the high number of private security they'd seen, and Page's firing, that the big companies were actually scared that there was an off-chance they'd win the league and use Florimel's new power to bring about change. Maybe it was dumb of them to have railed against inequality in that Mercury article, but she had been overwhelmed with joy at her triumph, and she hadn't held back.

They had been crashing in Dusty's little house, but the rent was due in two days, so they'd be tenting after that and they would run out of food-money shortly afterwards, so they had a gigantic task in front of them: Trek to Viridian City, capture at least two Pokemon on the way… Despite the fact that no one had seen a Pokemon on that route in years, beat a gym leader who would be prepared for their every move, and then use the money won in that fight to get to Pewter City.

Dusty had suggested that they give Florimel Flick and Bigwingboy, much to the Pokemons' despair, but apparently the rules stated that the companions needed at least one mon of their own, and frankly, neither had much fighting ability, not yet at least.

 _"Okay guys"_ Florimel said, as they started the long walk, packs on backs, _"Viridian Way, sixteen miles of rolling hills and meadows. Previously the home of thousands of Pokemon. Are there any left?"_

 _"Bigwingboy, fly wide circles above us and tell us if you see any movement."_ Dusty said, and the Spearow dutifully sprang off his arm and into the sky.

The three people and their associated mons tracked through the unploughed land, desperately searching for any sign of remaining Pokemon. They had mused trying to fish in the sea, but the only nearby water was The Gulf of Pallet, which had been pretty much cleared out, plus, another water-type Pokemon would possess the same weaknesses as Hydro. Hours passed with no result, until, at long last Florimels walking stick, which she was sweeping through the long grass in the hope of disturbing a small, undiscovered mon, hit what at first seemed like a perfectly normal clump of vegetation, until it jumped out of the ground and gave out a surprised yelp. Once it's whole purple boy was visible, it was clear which Pokemon this was.

 _"An Oddish!"_ Page bellowed as it scurried away into the grass.

 _"Bigwingboy!"_ Shouted Dusty. _"Get that Pokemon and pin it down!"_

 _"Here goes."_ Said Florimel with a note of anxiety as she and her Squirtle ran through the grass to where they could see that Bigwingboy had landed. They came out of the grass into a clearing where they could see the Spearow holding desperately on to the Oddish's leaf, whilst the little creature battered away at it with tentacle-like vines. The grass Pokemon must have been strong, as it was overturning the natural disadvantage grass types have when fighting birds, and was smashing Bigwingboy to pieces. When the Spearow finally noticed his friends had arrived, he let go and fluttered off back to Dusty, who held him in his arms. But before the plant-Pokemon could flee once more, Hydra fronted-up to it, growling at it.

 _"Hit it with your icy breath Hydro."_ Florimel instructed, and the Squirtle did as told, a wave of frosty air hit the Oddish and knocked it off its feat. The plant type tried to strike back with frantic, desperate, blind blows with both its long, thick vines.

One vine flew hard into Page's neck, and ze leaped onto the ground in a ball, protecting Flick under zer. The other flew out and hit Florimel in the crotch, she fell to her knees clutching herself in agony, and as the vine flew back down and smashed with considerable force into her shoulder she fell onto the floor. Dusty flinched back away from the torment. One Vine then whipped into Hydro repeatedly who staggered away with each blow, and then retreated into his shell. Florimel managed to grunt out the words: _"Bubblebeam Hydro,"_ and the Squirtle stuck it's head out of its carapace just enough to fire out a jet of concussive bubbles. The Oddish gave out a pained wail, and the movement of its vines slowed and became even more clumsy. Florimel prayed that the troublesome little shrub-beast was now too weak to break from a Pokeball, and grabbed one out of a pocket in her jacket, lifted herself up and threw it right at the Oddish's little face. The ball shaked frantically as the digitized Oddish struggled against its confines, before finally it clicked closed.

After a very long pause, the silence only broken by Hydro's exhausted panting, Dusty finally said: _"Well thank goodness that's over."_

 _"What are you talking about!"_ Yelled Flossy, hand still between her legs. _"You didn't even get hit!"_

 _"Nope. I don't rush in, I'm not a Pokemon."_ Replied Dusty.

 _"Well at least you caught it."_ Grumbled Page. _"I think I'd have screamed if that tough little bugger had broken out."_

The day was still young, and after Dusty had cooked a simple meal while the rest licked their wounds, they all got down to examining Florimel's new companion's fighting ability. With trepidation they released the Oddish, and it sprang out of its ball with a squeak. Its temperament was now somewhat subdued. It understood that through holding its pokeball, Florimel held power over it, and it might as well cooperate.

 _"Hey there chickadee."_ Florimel said to it sweetly. _"Are you ready to go on an adventure?"_

The Oddish looked nonplussed, unlike their existing Pokemon, this one was untrained and had been in the wild all its life. But with some convincing, especially from Flick, who it seemed to have befriended, it was eventually willing to show off its attacks, along with its powerful vine whips, it had a serviceable razor leaf. And the rest of the day say Oddish, who the gang had decided to nickname ' _Spud_ ,' mock-battling Hydro, Flick and Bigwingboy.

 _"The thing's probably had a pretty tough life, escaping the scouring and then fighting for its life on its own in an artificially baron habitat."_ Page suggested.

 _"That would explain its power."_ Added Dusty.

 _"It's pretty strong already, but it definitely needs a bit of practice and smoothing out. It's all strength, no technique."_ Surmised Florimel.

The trio set their Pokemon battling Spud again and again for the rest of the day until the light was too low for them to see, then they all curled up in their big tent for the night.

A bright light woke Page, ze felt around next to zerself for Flick, but couldn't find it. At the other end of the tent was what looked at first like a bright, glowing orb. It was only after Page's vision had adjusted that he could see the details within the glow. It was Flick, it was emitting a bright, pulsating light… He'd read about this. It was evolving.

 _"Guys. Get up."_ Ze whispered as ze crawled down the tent, shaking awake Flossy and Dusty as ze passed them. They murmured in confusion as they woke, and Page added, excitedly but still in a low voice _"Flick is evolving."_

When ze was close to Flick, ze reached out a hand and stroked the little bug on its head. _"You can do it, little buddy. Come on now."_ The light got more intense, until it was hard to see anything of Flick within it, before finally it subsided, and sat there, looking at its own, new little body with intrigue, was Flick, the Swadloon.

Woken by this happy and unexpected event, Florimel realised that her bladder was full, and excusing herself, trudged off into the night to answer a call of nature, while the others hugged and congratulated Flick. A respectable distance away from the tent, but still close enough to see the torch-light, she squatted down, and as soon as she could be sure that the stream was traveling away from, rather than towards her shoes, she let her mind wander to the subject of how much her life had changed in the last few weeks. It promised to be a lot more interesting and exciting, but also a hell of a lot briefer. Could she really win the league and become a Champion? Could she even use her fame to shine a light on the hideousness of the world and how things were? Could her historian friend stay sober long enough to show the world that there was another way. That there had been happier times and that those days could return. Or was she just going to die on the executioner's slab in Viridian. And who the hell issued her with a Trainer's License?

Her business done, and walking back to the tent, she noticed an odd series of humming and squeaking sounds off to her left, heart pounding with fear, and feet frozen to the spot, she turned her head slowly, trying not to breathe in case she made too much noise, and then she saw it. A little grey humanoid figure, with a huge head, facing away from her. It was glowing slightly in the starlight, and it's little hand hand was slowly moving side to side in front of it, in a seemingly playful manner. As the hand and it's three little gem-like fingers, one green, one red and one yellow passed in front of plants their leaves detached and danced in the air in front of it.

Suddenly the leaves all dropped to the ground at once and it turned to face her. She was glad she'd just emptied her bladder or she'd need a change of pants. It made startled noises and jumped backwards in an almost comical display of surprise, then it raised its hand and pointed it at her, she flew backwards and landed on her rump in some disturbingly wet grass.

Hydro was still in the tent fawning over the newly Swadloonified Flick with he rest of the guys, but she felt on her waist for the Pokeball of her new Oddish, Spud.

 _"Go Spud!"_ She exclaimed _"Pin that... Whatever it is down!"_ The little grass-monster rushed out of it's Pokeball and shot out its little vines, expertly wrapping around the strange Pokemon's body and holding it to the ground. But in the limited light Flossy could see that this wasn't enough to stop the thing attacking, it's huge bulbous head glowed purple, and then a moment later so did Oddish's, and Oddish wailed in pain.

 _"Hydro! Guys! Help!"_ Wailed Florimel. And moments later the gang rushed out. Her Squirtle in the lead, and Page, holding the now much heavier Flick taking up the rear. _"Hydro"_ She yelled, _"take this thing out with a Skull Bash!"_ The Squirtle didn't need telling twice, it leaped through the air, and smashed into the strange psychic beast, it's bony head making hard contact with the mystery Pokemon's huge one, it hit right on target as it was still wrapped up in the vines and unable to evade the attack. The Pokemon looked dazed and out of it, and Florimel took her opportunity and threw a Pokeball. It barely even shook before the Pokemon was caught. But she didn't have a moment to celebrate before the victorious Squirtle was engulfed in a ball of light. Her heart pounded as she knew what was about to happed. She rushed to her little Squirtle and embraced it, as it made that step into becoming a Wartortle.

 _"Alright!"_ Exclaimed Florimel, still with an arm around Hydro, as Spud nuzzled against her ankle. _"I have three epic Pokemon for the gym!"_

 _"Yeah"_ Replied Page. _"An Oddish a Wartortle and an Elgyem! You'll be unstoppable!"_

 _"Elgyem?_ " Asked Florimel. _"Is it powerful, I've never heard of it."_

 _"I'm not surprised, it's pretty rare. But powerful, heck yeah._ " Ze answered.

 _"It's all coming together guys."_ Said Dusty as he hugged the jubilant Florimel, before recoiling back. _"Ergh.. What's this on your bum, smells like pee-"_

 _"-Heck I'd have wet myself if that thing had spooked me, so I don't blame you."_ Interjected Page.

 _"I didn't wet myself! I went for a pee and then on the way back that 'Elgyem' threw me into the puddle!"_ She wailed in frustration.

 _"Sure, I believe you..."_ Replied Dusty. _"... Thousands wouldn't."_

 ** _End of Chapter One_**


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